Re: Windows 8 OEM specs may block Linux booting

Dunno if it's wishful thinking or informed opinion but I'd like to think the relevant regulatory bodies would consider the scenario as outlined in that article as being anti-competitive and insist on hardware vendors providing a means to boot 'unsigned' code.Presumably Windows users who bought such a device and didn't like Windows 8, for whatever reason, and wanted to install a legitimate copy of Windows 7 would be screwed too.

Re: Windows 8 OEM specs may block Linux booting

Its the old "trusted computing platform" raising its head again. They want to STOP you doing what ever you want with YOUR PC. OEM's may do it purely because M$ pay them £000's to to do so, but I think it may have a hard time getting through the regulators, even Apple hasn't tried this Just shows how popular Linux is getting when they are trying to lock it out at the hardware level - much like the Xbox 360 - that would be the only way I could see them getting round it, buy W9 (including a pc to run it on M$ branded)

Re: Windows 8 OEM specs may block Linux booting

Interesting article. Not sure how far it would get, a lot of corporations do run linux on servers as we know and a lot of those machines may well come with OEM Microsoft OSes to begin with. Perhaps we'll see OEMs delivering more machines with no OS pre-installed? Its more problem for folks who need to dual boot.

Re: Windows 8 OEM specs may block Linux booting

If this is the case, then I foresee that instead of our computers coming from China via US organisations, in future, we may see that they may come from China via Russian organisations. Putin has ordered the Russian State to switch to Linux.

Re: Windows 8 OEM specs may block Linux booting

Presumably this also implies that also Windows-8 will not run as a VM, whether hosted on Linux or anything else I don't really see what Microsoft are trying to achieve with this, because if a customer has a dual booting machine, then Microsoft have already made their money selling a license on that machine The fact that customers needs dual booting at all must by definition mean that users wants some capability or feature that Windows-8 does not have, therefore would it not make more sense for Microsoft to address whatever these perceived shortcomings are and include them in the Windows-8 release ?. The fact that this issue is being proposed ahead of release looks to me that Microsoft are just going to release the same old recycled rubbish (as always), and not adapt to the current needs or usage patterns of computer users.

Re: Windows 8 OEM specs may block Linux booting

Microsoft’s philosophy is to provide customers with the best experience

Does "best experience" include - Slow booting and slow shutdown, Blue screens of death, Constant security updates, Replacing your PC, OS, and application programs every couple of years for no good reason, Out of date NTFS, Lack of peripheral drivers, Internet Explorer, The registry ! No built in support for scripting, Unnecessarily high swap file usage even when ample physical RAM available. Having to reboot the PC after every other update - WHY !!!!! Updates to the updated update (with associated three reboots !!!)... this list is endless.Isn't what is being proposed yet another case of Microsoft adding a more bloat 'external' security layer to protect their overly vulnerable OS ?After all these years, why have they not rewritten Windows from the ground up with modern security mechanisms built in, and just stop all this nonsense ?

Re: Windows 8 OEM specs may block Linux booting

Learning from the politicians I see..... (if you don't like the way the discussion is going, change the subject and attack)Now if you want real security you need to start with hardware and work up from there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multics

Re: Windows 8 OEM specs may block Linux booting

Now you're talking !, I've worked on both PRIMOS on prime computers, and on Apollo workstations. I don't know about "if you don't like the way the discussion is going, change the subject and attack" though, and I'm not paranoid about what Microsoft get up to.Actually I really don't care what Microsoft do, as I will NEVER spend another penny of my own money on anything they produce.I am just sick to death of fixing friends and family PCs, because an update failed, ever slowing performance, it won't start, or it's picked up a virus, blah blah blah.I was for many years a Windows owner, from Windows-286 and EVERY version up to XP, but then discovered the light (of the Penguin) and will never go back as Windows is just so much effort in comparison. In a way Microsoft have done me a favour, as one of my hobbies is PC building, and I have been donated several perfectly good machines - as their previous owners were forced to 'upgrade' because Windows was running too slowly.Add a better CPU and some more RAM for a couple of quid from eBay, then install Ubuntu 10.10 and those machines work better than when they were new, with no crashing, no security issues, just a truly joyous machine to use - as it should have been in the first place !

Re: Windows 8 OEM specs may block Linux booting

If it's sold as a General Purpose PC then it wouldn't be fit for purpose, and you could return it for a refund. I'd imagine any sane OEM would provide a way to turn it off.Also doesn't seem to be very sane from a Microsoft POV, you're artificially limiting the hardware your OS can be installed on.

"OEMs have the ability to customize their firmware to meet the needs of their customers by customizing the level of certificate and policy management on their platform "So Microsoft are shifting the responsibility to the OEMs! I've just had to buy a new box which inevitably came with Win7 OEM pre-installed. That's not a problem for me except for the unnecessary expense.Took about 5 mins to wipe the disc.